Goa Police file chargesheet against BJP MLA, 2 others

Panaji: The Goa crime branch today filed chargesheet against BJP legislator Michael Lobo and two others in connections with violation of Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) rules to build a hotel at the famous Baga beach in North Goa.

The chargesheet was filed before the Judicial Magistrate First Class at Mapusa in which Lobo and two of his partners in the hotel project at Baga beach are accused.

Crime branch claimed that Lobo had forged the No Objection Certificate (NOC) obtained from Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) for the project.

"There is no proper permission obtained for majority part of the plot on which the hotel has been constructed," the police said in the chargesheet.

The BJP legislator from Calangute constituency is also the chairman of state-run North Goa Planning and Development Authority (NGPDA).

In 2010, GCZMA Member Secretary Michael D'Souza had filed complaint against Lobo and officials of GCZMA for forging CRZ No Objection Certificate for the hotel project. Police, during investigations, found that the forged NOC was printed from one of the computers in GCZMA. The probe also revealed that the NOC was not registered in the outward register of the authority.

The chargesheet was filed under sections 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating), 471 (fraudulent document used as genuine), 420 (cheating) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) of the IPC.